Dolphin Tale: Just like Winter
by Maldog22344
Summary: On a staff camping trip, Sawyer Nelson, along with Gold Coast transfers, Mimmi and Chris travel to a mako like island in Clearwater Florida. But what happens when Sawyer finds that moon pool and becomes a merman? Will he have to quit his job and lose his closest friends. (Flashbacks to Dolphin Tale and Mako Mermaids in some chapters and OCs) takes place a year after Dolphin Tale 2
1. Camping with the transfers?

One sunny Friday afternoon, Sawyer Nelson rode his bike over to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where he worked with his best friend, Hazel Haskett and her father, Clay. He started working there a few years ago. He was riding his bike to get to summer school when he found a dolphin named Winter, washed up on the beach with her tail badly damaged and tangled up in a crab trap. He went to see Winter every day after school. Sawyer went there so much that he eventually started skipping summer school just to see Winter recover. Winter and Sawyer became best friends over the years. Sawyer and Hazel never gave up on her through the tough times. Sawyer walked into the building to see Hazel run over to him and give him a big hug. "Sawyer, you're back!" Hazel exclaimed. "Relax Hazel, I've only been gone for 24 hours." Sawyer said with a faint giggle. "I know but it feels like it's been forever." She replied. "Oh, and all the staff at CMA are going on a camping trip to find some islands or other places that some healthy animals can be released at, but all of us have to get separate areas." "Are we going to the same place?" Sawyer asked. "Sadly, to make the camping trip short, no. Hazel sighed. "But luckily I know who you were paired with since you missed the last staff meeting." Hazel showed him a piece of paper that said who he was going with. "Chris and Mimmi?" He asked. "The people from the Gold Coast?" Sawyer knew that Chris and Mimmi were transferred from the Gold Coast to Clearwater Florida to help dolphins and other animals like Winter. He thinks they seem very nice, but he's never seen Mimmi go near the water. Sawyer helped Hazel pack for the trip when Chris walks over to them. "Hey, you must be Sawyer Nelson." He said. "I'm Chris and that's my girlfriend Mimmi over by the sea turtles." "Well it's nice to finally meet you guys, and I can't wait for the camping trip today!" Sawyer replied. "Oh and one more thing, you and I are going by boat." Chris said. "Why is it just the two of us, isn't Mimmi coming too?" Sawyer asked looking concerned. "Yeah she's coming, she'll just meet us there." He lied. "Hi Chris, how are you liking Clearwater Florida?" Hazel asked. "It's amazing, a little different from the Gold Coast, but still cool," Chris replied. "I think Mimmi grew up around here." Mimmi had a secret she had her whole life. She was born a mermaid. Growing up in the Northern mermaid pod with a mother she never met growing up. She had reunited with her brother, Zac and had eventually found their mom cursed as a water dragon that could take away a mermaid's powers. A year later, Mimmi works on land with her boyfriend, Chris at CMA, where they were transferred to help animals like Winter and see how she stays strong living without her tail.


	2. The magic begins

Sawyer was preparing for the camping trip today. Though he wasn't paired with Hazel, he still wanted to have fun with Mimmi and Chris. "Sawyer, you gotta get going, Hazel's here!" His mom, Lorraine hollered. "Hang on Mom, I'm almost done packing!" Sawyer yelled back. Sawyer pulled his suitcase into the kitchen. "Hey Sawyer, are you ready to go?" Hazel asked her best friend. "Yeah, I'm ready, I wish we were going to the same place, but I'm also glad because that will give me the chance to get to know Mimmi and Chris." Sawyer replied hugging Hazel tight. "We should get to CMA," Hazel said. "I can't wait for the trip!" "Hazel, who's watching the animals?" Lorraine asked. "My grandpa is watching them." She replied. "Bye Mom." Sawyer said giving his mother a kiss on the cheek. Hazel and Sawyer start to walk out the door as Lorraine smiled and waved to her son. "Have fun Sawyer, don't get eaten by sharks!" Meanwhile, Chris was still sleeping when Mimmi was gonna start kissing him. She kisses Chris and wakes him up. They make out for five minutes until suddenly, Mimmi gets a call from her little brother Zac. "Hey Zac, what's up?" She spoke. "Mimmi, the full moon is tonight, are you prepared?" He asked. "Did Ondina tell you to say that, because if she did, tell her I'm fine." Mimmi asked. "I gotta go." She hangs up the phone. "C'mon, Chris, we gotta go and pack." Later that afternoon, Sawyer wheels in his luggage and with the help of Hazel, they loaded the luggage on a speedboat with a blue placecard that said: ' _Team Sawyer'_ taped by the control post. "Hey, let's go see Winter and Hope before we leave." Hazel suggested. The two best friends ran to the dolphin pool and saw their three dolphins. The first dolphin was named Nicholas, who was found on a beach with his mother and a bad sunburn on his back a few years ago. His mother died because the sunburn she had was too severe. The second dolphin is Winter, whose tail was badly damaged in a crab trap, and without Sawyer's help, she wouldn't be able to live and CMA would've never found her. And the last dolphin was Hope, who was found as a calf and was very ill. The CMA staff weren't sure if she was gonna make it. Hazel grabbed some toys for the dolphins to play with. Sawyer throws Winter her favorite toy, a little rubber duck toy with a hoop attached to it. Hazel threw a red beachball to Hope and a blue beachball to Nicholas. Chris and Mimmi walked into the building and loaded their luggage on the speedboat. Hazel and Sawyer started to laugh at the dolphins doing their funny tricks. "Hey, Sawyer and Hazel." Chris greets. "Good morning Chris." Sawyer said. "Hi Mimmi." Hazel rushes to put on her shoes and she runs to the boat she was assigned to. "Bye Sawyer, see you in a day or two." Hazel said as she hugs her best friend and she ran to the boat. Mimmi, very quietly exited the building and waited for the second to last boat to leave. Once it did, she dove into the ocean as her tail formed replacing her vanished legs. She swam to the island in less than ten seconds after diving in. Meanwhile, Sawyer was saying goodbye to the dolphins when Chris began to start the speedboat engine. "Where's Mimmi?" Sawyer asked. Chris looked around, only to see his girlfriend is nowhere to be seen. "Mimmi had forgotten something on the way here, so she went to go get it and she said she was gonna meet us there." He replied. "Okay, I guess we can get going if she's going to meet us there." Sawyer said as he grabbed three wetsuits for Mimmi and Chris. Sawyer boarded the boat with Chris and sat down and started to relax since he couldn't drive a boat. Chris drove the boat so fast that it eventually started splashing up and down. "So Chris, I heard you're researching dolphins." Sawyer tried to start a conversation with him. "Yes, I research dolphins, the whole reason why I decided to transfer here is so I can study how Winter lives without her tail so I can help other dolphins if they have a similar condition to Winter." Chris replied. Him and Sawyer talked about Winter's conditions until they arrived at the island. "Hi guys." Mimmi said as Chris and Sawyer got off the boat. "Hey baby, I missed you." Chris flirts. "Hey Mimmi." Sawyer greeted. "Hi Sawyer." She replied. "So what should we do?" asked Sawyer. "Well, we did leave later than everyone else." Chris replied. "How about Sawyer goes to find something to eat and Mimmi and I will stay here to find some firewood." Sawyer went to search for food on the beach. "Sawyer, why don't you search for food in the woods." Mimmi suggests. Sawyer decided to take Mimmi's suggestion and searches for food in the woods. He searched for a half hour until he finally found some wild turkeys in a very creepy part of the woods. Sawyer walked toward the turkeys without making any sound, and then suddenly, he tripped over a boulder and fell down a hole and all of the turkeys got away. "Mimmi, Chris?" Sawyer started to scream at the top of his lungs and neither Chris nor Mimmi heard him, however they were able to catch a wild turkey. Sawyer tried to climb up where he fell, but he couldn't get back up, it was too steep. He looked for another way out of the weird cave. He started to get nervous, what if he didn't find a way out? But Sawyer got lucky and did find a way to escape. Sawyer found a weird pool and a huge opening above him like a volcano. "Maybe that pool is my ticket out of here!" Sawyer exclaimed as he puts his foot in the water. The water was warm like a jacuzzi hot tub at a luxury hotel. He started to swim around the pool for a little bit when suddenly, the bright moon was shining over the weird pool that Sawyer was in. It started to rapidly bubble, but that didn't bother Sawyer. After the moon passed, Sawyer swam through an opening and makes his way back to Mimmi and Chris cooking a wild turkey. "Where have you been Sawyer," Mimmi wondered. "You've been gone for like an hour." "I was looking for food in the woods like you said and I found the turkey, but then I got lost and tried to retrace my steps and it led me back here." Sawyer explained adding in a few lies. He didn't want Mimmi and Chris to find out about that pool, the more he had thought about it, the more it freaked him out. Sawyer, Chris, and Mimmi all went to bed after this long day. The next morning, Sawyer went to go find the cave with the pool to relax and enjoy the last few hours on the island before returning to CMA. He found the cave entrance and carefully slid down the hole. Sawyer walked over to the pool and dove in. But this time, everything was different. Sawyer felt like his legs were tingling and about ten seconds later, his jaw dropped as he saw not his legs, but a blue scaly tail from the waist down.


	3. Three can keep a secret

Sawyer couldn't stop staring at his tail. He wanted to scream, but he was scared he would make a scene. "What is this?" He asked himself. "I can't feel my legs right now!" Sawyer flicked his tail and he started to feel comfortable. "Might as well get used to this." Sawyer said as he dove under the water. Once he dove into the water, he had a different feeling that he had never had experienced with Winter, he actually knew what it was like to swim in the water like Winter, except he actually had a tail. Sawyer had a better and more advanced lung capacity while underwater. He swam under the water like the ocean was where he was meant to be. He went up to the surface and found a place where Chris and Mimmi wouldn't find him with a tail. "I'm gonna be like this forever aren't I." Sawyer stated. He clenched his fist as he felt a sting from his tail. All of a sudden his tail disappeared and his legs returned. "This probably was just a one time thing." He said looking relieved. Sawyer walked toward the campsite and saw Mimmi and Chris had fallen asleep on two towels and their fire was barely burning, so while the couple were still sleeping, Sawyer sat by the fire with a lot on his mind. He went to bed as a normal boy and he basically woke up with a tail. He clenched his fists again as the fire strengthens and grows freaking Sawyer out. "I thought this was a one time deal?" He questioned as he stood up and dipped his hand in the closest bit of water. He waited the ten seconds for his transformation and he had put his arms out like he was king of the world and he splashed into the ocean. Mimmi woke up as she heard the splash of water. She gets up and she sees SAWYER, swimming in his tail. _Sawyer is a merman!_ Mimmi thought. Sawyer spots Mimmi as he goes back underwater, afraid of her. "Don't be scared, Sawyer," Mimmi shouts. "You're gonna be just fine!" She dove into the water to swim after Sawyer. Mimmi's tail appears as she swims closer to Sawyer. As soon as he saw Mimmi as a mermaid, his jaw dropped again and she started to laugh. "Mimmi, what's going on?" Sawyer asked as him and Mimmi came up from the water. "Did you follow me last night?" "What, no I just heard a splash and I saw you in a tail!" Mimmi replied. "You have one too!" Sawyer added." How do you live with a secret like this?" "Well, I was born like this and before you ask, yes Chris knows about me." She said. "But you can't tell anyone about this, not Hazel, not even your mom." "But why did you tell Chris?" Sawyer asked. "It was one of the hardest decisions of my life, but I told him and he loves me for who I am, not what I am." Mimmi explains. She called Chris to help Sawyer out of the water. "How does that keep happening?" Chris asked freaking out. "Don't look at me," Mimmi said. "I found him like that this morning!" He started to calm down as he loaded the stuff on the boat. Sawyer sat on the beach with a sad look on his face after drying himself off. "What am I gonna do about my job at CMA?" He asked himself. Mimmi sat with Sawyer and hugged him. "I was just as nervous as you when I started working with Chris at the marine park in the Gold Coast," Mimmi started. "Working there was risky but I still did it." "Mimmi, what could I do at work without getting wet?" Sawyer asked. "I don't know what exactly you could do." Mimmi replied. The boat engine started and Chris just took off all of the luggage. "Looks like I should show you what it's like to swim like me." Mimmi said as She and Sawyer dive into the ocean forming their tails. Sawyer was swimming so fast that not even Mimmi could catch up with him, and she's been a mermaid her whole life. After arriving back to CMA, Sawyer and Mimmi dried off using their powers and walked toward the building. Mimmi opens the door and sees nobody inside except the animals and Hazel's grandfather, Reed Haskett. "How ya doing, Sawyer," Reed greets him. "It's good to see you!" "You too." Sawyer said as Reed leaves the building. Out of nowhere, a familiar Tweety Bird sound echoes from the dolphins pool. It was Winter! Sawyer walked toward the dolphins pool and there was the three dolphins, celebrating the return of Sawyer. "Hi Winter." He said, looking really excited. Winter was playing around in the water with Nicholas and Hope. Sawyer giggled as the dolphins were splashing each other playfully in their pool. Sawyer goes a little closer to the dolphin pool and suddenly flips in the pool and transformed in front of the dolphins. All three dolphins swam around Sawyer and played with him as if he was just swimming with his legs. He was having the time of his life. He felt like he was a dolphin. "All right, it's time for me to get out of the water before I get caught." Sawyer said as he pulled himself out of the pool and used his power to dry his tail. He walked toward the entrance to see if Clay, Hazel, and Phoebe had returned yet. He wanted to at least tell Hazel about what had happened to him on the island, but he thought about what Mimmi said before they left and it made him feel a little bit scared. His secret is so big that it could possibly cost him his life if many people found out. Suddenly, Sawyer bursts in excitement as Hazel, Clay, and Phoebe had returned from their trip. Sawyer and Hazel ran toward each other and squeezed each other tight.


	4. Hazel’s return to CMA

"I'm so glad you're back." Hazel said almost choking Sawyer with a big hug. "How was the trip with Chris and Mimmi?" "It was amazing, they told me what it was like living in the Gold Coast." Sawyer said. "Did you find any places that we could release the animals?" She asked. Sawyer had so much on his mind about his big encounter with the moon pool that he completely forgot why he was the island with Mimmi and Chris in the first place. "No, we didn't find any areas for release." Sawyer said, telling her the honest truth. He was still afraid of what she would think if she ever found out about what happened to him that night. Out of nowhere, Hope started splashing her tail around and some water splashed on Hazel and the other dolphins. Sawyer walked back a few steps to avoid a transformation. Hazel chuckled. "Hope, don't get me, splash Sawyer or something." Hope trills as Hazel steps out of the way and all the dolphins splash Sawyer altogether. "No, not again." Sawyer whispered loud enough for Hazel to hear. _Why did he say that?_ Hazel thought as she filled a bucket with ice water and chased after him. He ran to find a room to hide his tail. But what Sawyer didn't know is that Hazel was right behind him with a bucket of ice water. Many of the doors were locked except for the kitchen where him and Hazel make treats for Winter. Sawyer's ten seconds were up as he tumbled to the floor and his legs changed to his tail. "Whew," Sawyer sighed. "Thankfully, no one saw me." Then he turned around to see Hazel, with her jaw dropping and she dropped the bucket of ice water on the floor, causing it to spill all over the floor. Sawyer shivered. "Oh my gosh, Hazel," he said in shock. "That water is cold!" "What happened to you, Sawyer?" She asked. "You're just like Winter!" "Hazel, this isn't what it looks like." Sawyer replied. "Sawyer, that's a big giant fish tail replacing your legs." Hazel said, still freaking out. "Then I guess it is what it looks like." He sighed. "Look, please just don't tell anyone about this," Sawyer explains. "You've got to keep this all a secret from everyone, especially your dad." "Definitely, if my dad found out about this, you'd be a science experiment or something." Hazel said. "But wait, you said this has happened to you before, how do your legs return?" "Move me over to the chair in the back." Sawyer tells her. Hazel carries Sawyer to the back of the kitchen and sets him down on the chair. "Watch this." Sawyer said as he clenched his fist to show Hazel his heat powers. "This is so awesome," Hazel said. "But wait, how did this happen?" "That's the thing, I don't know." Sawyer replied as he changed back to normal. "It happened last night at the island I was staying at with Mimmi and Chris, they told me to search for some food to cook over a fire, so I walked around for a bit with those tools that Kyle gave me a few years ago that freed Winter from the crab trap and I had found a wild turkey in the woods and it must've spotted my tools so it ran off and I followed it until I got lost, and that's when I tripped on something and fell into a hole that was another way into a cave, but it wasn't a way out, I searched for a way out of the cave for about a half hour or more until I found this pool that started bubbling and it felt so good, I swear I thought it was a jacuzzi hot tub for a second, that pool was my escape ticket so I swam underneath and the next morning I searched for the pool again, but when I got in, I had a tail and now you're caught up." "Wow, Sawyer, this is so much for you to take in, and before I didn't even believe in mythology or the supernatural." Hazel said looking very calm. "Don't worry, my lips are sealed." She hugged Sawyer with a tight grip. "I will do the best I can to help you through the thick and thin." A few minutes later, Mimmi walked into the door to feed the dolphins and stepped into the puddle of water Hazel made by accident, however, none of the water got on her. "Sawyer, are you alone?" She asked. "I told you before you need to avoid contact with water in public at all costs." Mimmi sees Hazel and Sawyer in the back. "Oh no, Sawyer you didn't." "I'm sorry, but I got splashed and I didn't know Hazel was following me and she saw me transform." Sawyer explains. "It's okay, if I know anyone who can keep a secret as big as this one, it's Hazel Haskett."


	5. From trills to words

Hazel's father, Doctor Clay Haskett walked into the kitchen and saw the puddle of water on the floor. "Crap," Sawyer said as Clay walked to the back of the kitchen. "Sawyer?" He asked. "Can you mop the kitchen floor?" Sawyer started to stutter as Mimmi interrupted him. "I'll clean it up sir." She said. Sawyer was confused, Mimmi couldn't touch the water without her transforming either. Clay leaves the room as Phoebe, one of the dolphin trainers to help with Winter. "Wait, Mimmi," Hazel said. "If you touch the water on the mop, won't you transform?" "Yeah, but I've been doing this for a couple of years, and as my brother, Zac would say, you'll get used to it." She replied. Suddenly, Sawyer receives a text from his mother, Lorraine.

 **Mom: hey bud how was the trip?**

"I should probably go see my mom and tell her how the trip was." Sawyer said as he walked out of the kitchen and got on his bike to see his mother.

 **Sawyer: very good mom, I'm coming home right now.**

Sawyer rode his bike in the garage and walked into his house to see his mom with a big smile on her face. He hugged her so tightly and let go. "Hey Sawyer, how was the trip?" She asked. "Like I said on the phone, mom, very good." He replied. Sawyer could tell that Lorraine wanted to know everything that happened on his trip, but he obviously had to leave out the fact of him becoming a merman. "I missed you so much, mom." He told his mother. A few minutes later, Sawyer drew a bath because he couldn't take a shower without flipping. He got in the bath and transformed as he took some time to think about his new life. "Okay," Sawyer said as he was getting relaxed. "So, I guess Mimmi was right, I can't come in contact with any type of water, but what do I do, would I have to quit my job at CMA?" He changed back to normal before he left the bathroom when he decided to call Mimmi and ask her for some additional advice. Meanwhile, at a big apartment complex, Mimmi was in a locked room making out with Chris. "I love you so much." Chris said with his lips against Mimmi's. The couple continue to kiss when suddenly, Mimmi's phone rings and their lips separate. She picked up the phone to see that Sawyer was calling her. "Hey, what's going on?" Mimmi asked. "How'd you work at a marine park with your secret at risk?" He asked. "Sawyer, you need to calm down, but to answer your question, I didn't do anything there that had anything to do with the water." Mimmi replied. Sawyer hung up on her as he gets another call from Clay. "Hey Doctor Clay." He said. "Sawyer, can you take the night shift?" He asked. "I can't because I have to go back to the island I went to for releasing animals, but I also put Hazel in charge of the night shift so you wouldn't be alone." "I'll do it, see you tomorrow." Sawyer said as he hopped on his bike and rode to CMA. Hazel was waiting for her best friend to come to help her out. "Hey Sawyer." She greeted. "Hey." He replied. "So, my dad said that we had to turn off all of the cameras throughout all of CMA, the security cameras, website cameras, everything." She said. "Okay, I'll go do it right now." Sawyer said running as he turned off all the cameras in the entire building. He came running back to Hazel, trying to catch his breath. All of a sudden, Winter trills and gets Sawyer and Hazel's attention. "What's wrong, Winter?" Hazel asked. The dolphin splashed her prosthetic tail at Hazel and she assumed that Winter wanted some toys. Hazel grabbed the duck toy as Winter made her signature tweety bird sound that she makes for Sawyer. He walked toward the dolphin pool. "What do you want, Winter?" Sawyer asked. "Careful, that's wet." Hazel warned. Winter trills again and Sawyer started to talk to her. "Yes, Winter, I am a merman." He said as he and Hazel were shocked. "Did Winter just talk to you?" She asked still shocked. "No she just made her typical dolphin sound and somehow I understood her, she was asking if I was a merman." Sawyer said. "Cool," Hazel said. "Tell her something else." Winter's trilling continues. "You want us to swim with you?" Sawyer asked. Hazel walked toward the pool as Winter tripped her and falls into the pool, taking Sawyer down with her. He transformed in the water and swims up with Hazel. Winter trills again and Sawyer figured out she was laughing. "Very funny Winter." He said as he and Hazel dove under to swim with Winter. Sawyer swam as fast as Winter underwater. Hazel grabbed some toys for the dolphin to play with in the water. Sawyer and Hazel kept splashing each other and had also splashed Winter. They were all having so much fun in the water, even Sawyer got his mind off of his transformations. The teens got out of the pool. Hazel grabbed onto Sawyer and dragged him into a dry area. He used his powers to change back to normal and Hazel helped him off the floor. "That was fun." He said. "I agree." Hazel replied. It was getting late and they only had to work until 11 o'clock pm. "I should probably get home before my mom starts to worry." Sawyer said to Hazel. "See you tomorrow." Hazel said as she kissed him on the cheek. Sawyer walked over to his bike and rode his way home, blushing all night long. He couldn't get over the fact that Hazel kissed him, out of all the guys in the world, she kissed him.


End file.
